One Day
by Songstone
Summary: When something unbelievable threatens Lee's sanity, there is only one person who might be able to help. Someone who once had this same problem. One Day was all it took. One Day when Gaara decided to help. Rated T for Shukaku. -HIATUS-
1. Search and Rescue

**One Day**

**A story by Songstone**

**Songstone: I have to put up all of my stories again in this new account since my older sister won't let me back into her account. She changed the email...basically said to get rid of my stories and put them in my own account. She won't change the email to mine either since she doesn't want to have to put 'watch' again in her own account. Anyway, I really, really hope that you guys will review this story again. I had nearly beaten my old record of 61. I want to make it to 62 so badly and I nearly had that. Please, enjoy this story the second time around. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, or the show.**

**Chapter 1: Search And Rescue**

"The wind is picking up. We'll stop for camp in a few minutes." Gaara kept his vision straight ahead of himself as he spoke, leading his cell of Sand Jounin's back home.

The group of grateful Sand nins heaved a silent sigh of relief at that. All eleven of them were worn to the bone from searching the desert these past three days. They had all insisted to their Kazekage that he should stay in Sunagakure and watch their village, but the redheaded leader had insistsed that he accompany them on this S-rank mission since it involved some Konoha alliances.

Not only did the Kazekage himself join them, but so had his right hand man, his brother. Kankuro had insisted that he "tag along" just in case they needed extra help--but the Kazekage had trasnslated that his older brother simply didn't want to stick around in Suna and be stuck with the piles of paperwork that would be building up in the young man's leave.

The Kazekage was right about the wind growing in strength. The sand on the desert floor was kicking up small dust devils around the group of Suna elites. They covered their faces with their gear reserved for sandstorms and tucked their heads down to their chests as the wind whipped around them.

"Gaara . . . put this on." Kankuro was arguing with his younger sibling, ordering that he wear some type of headgear to protect himelf from the sandstorm.

"I'm fine." The redhead said, and to show his brother that he didn't need anything, a sudden wave of chakra sent the incoming sand billowing above and around the Kazekage. He smirked when his brother growled and tugged the sides of his own headgear over his nose and mouth.

"Lucky . . ." Kankuro muttered as he pulled on a pair of worn and used goggles to protect his eyes.

"Not luck. Skill." Gaara corrected, a small safe spot in the storm forming around him as he walked. He walked the path back to Suna by memory, but his mind wandered back in time as he recalled getting a letter from Konoha's Hokage about a mission she would need his participation in.

She had informed him that one of her best men had gone missing. She mentioned that they suspected the Akatsuki. The same people who had kidnapped Gaara and extracted his demon six years ago. He shuddered at the memory and concentrated on remembering what had happened next.

Tsunade had gone on explaining that she needed a group of his best troops to patrol around and outside of Suna to look for their missing man. Gaara would have agreed quickly to the mission either way, but when he learned that the missing man was Rock Lee, he decided that he would join his men in their quest.

Rock Lee. Of all people to get captured, Gaara would have never thought of Rock Lee. Not that boy with the bowl cut and leg warmers and the incredible determination. Not the kid who recovered even when everyone said that he should give up his dream. Surely she didn't mean _that_ Rock Lee . . .

Apparently the taijutsuist had never returned from his mission to Suna. Gaara remembered when he came bounding into the Kazekage's office, package in hand and a wide grin across his face.

_"Here you go, Kazekage-sama! I made it here in a day and a half!"_

He had held out the package to the younger male and gave him his signature "nice guy pose" acompanied with a dazzling smile. The older boy had obviously gone through ridiculous lengths to get to Suna early, that being obvious by the way his breathing heaved in his chest and the crimson color his skin had taken during his journey. He still wore his usual green spandex and yellow leg warmers, despite the scorching desert heat. His hair was ragged and messy and stuck to the sides of his face because of the perspiration dripping from his forehead.

Gaara, seeing how worn and exhausted the older male was, had offered the Leaf Jounin a place to stay so he could rest up and recover, but the taijutsuist had politely refused.

_"That's all right, Kazekage-sama. I don't want to bother you anymore than I already have. I'll take my leave after I refill my canteen of water."_

Gaara had insisted that Lee stay a while and recuperate, but the large brow\wed boy had kept refusing, so the Kazekage had eventually given up and let him take his leave--but only after he forced him to eat a full meal and refill his water flask.

Lee was grateful, thanking Gaara many times for his hospitality, and then he left. Just as quickly as he had come, he took off running into the humid desert heat, promising to make it back to Konoha in two days. One if he was feeling risky, which Gaara hoped, for Lee's health and safety, that he wasn't.

And now, they were on a search and rescue mission to bring him back safely from the Akatsuki.

_How could this have happened? Why do they want Lee? Lee, of all people? He doesn't have any connection to their plans._ Gaara wondered to himself as he lead his team back to Suna. They had been gone for three days, searching the deserts terrain for any signs of the Leaf Jounin. So far, they had found nothing that could explain why Lee hadn't shown up back at Konoha.

They were another day's journey from reaching Suna. Gaara felt guilty as he made his way over then sand dunes and past dust devils toward his village. He should have tried harder to get Lee to stay. He should have held him down, kicking and screaming, and made him rest. Otherwise, none of this would have happened--

Gaara stopped walking suddenly. Kankuro bumped into him from behind and cursed under his breath.

"Why'd you stop?" His elder brother asked, tapping his shoulder, trying to get his attention.

Gaara nodded his head toward a small sand dune that lay a few feet in front of them. He stepped forward and as he approached, he felt something cold and hard settle in the pit of his stomach. He felt more guilt wash over him, and a shower of worry made him feel sick.

A steady flow of chakra pushed back the blowing wind and sand, clearing a path as Gaara made his way toward his target. He crouched down and saw that under the thin layer of sand, was a patch of green, and a black circular shape was poking out at the top. Gaara crouched down and extended a hand. His hand pushed past the grainy material of the sand and brushed smooth skin. _This better not be what I think it is . . ._

He felt himself hold his breath as he used both hands to overturn whatever was lying in the sand.

Gaara bit his lip when his assumptions were proved true. Rock Lee, the boy who had been jumping around Suna just a few days ago, was lying half buried in the sand, unconscious.

"What the hell . . .? That's Lee!" Kankuro said, running forward and kneeling next to his brother. He let out a low whistle of shock when he got a close up of their ally.

Gaara felt a bit surprised as well. Once he had moved Lee to lie on his back, he looked him up and down to make sure he was all right. That was when he saw the wounds. Lee's green suit had been slashed open from the front and all the way around to his back. His bare chest was cut and dried blood and sand was caked in around the wounds. His legs and arms were also mauled viciously, and his face . . .

Gaara caught himself staring at his face most of all.

The raven haired boy had scratches that looked like nail marks raked all the way over his closed eyelids and down front of his face and nose. His upper lip had been split open and Gaara saw, as Lee's mouth hung open loosely, that a tooth at the back of his mouth had been knocked out and the blood covered his tongue and the rest of his teeth.

Gaara's eyes narrowed. It seemed wrong. Looking at Lee and seeing what he had been put through . . . it just seemed _wrong_.

"Oy, is he even breathing?" Kankuro asked, pulling Gaara back into his right mind.

"I haven't checked." Gaara replied, and then leaned in toward the older Leaf nin. He put his ear to the injured boy's nose and listened carefully. A soft, warm breeze tickled his ear, and he heard a faint rattling from the Jounin's chest with every intake of air, most likely from all the sand he had swallowed. He pulled back and sat straight, balancing on his heels. "He's alive, if not half dead already. We need to take him back to Suna for medical treatment."

Kankuro nodded, his eyes widening slightly as he looked over Lee's beaten and broken body. "We should hurry then. This looks bad." The puppeteer moved closer and lifted the foreign Jounin's wrist and checked his veins. "He's severely dehydrated. Looks like he hasn't eaten in days . . . the kid'll die if we don't get him there soon--"

Gaara shrugged off the gourd and pulled Lee's hand away from Kankuro's grasp. He began to ease his robes off of his shoulders. He worked on getting the piece of clothing around the Leaf's body. He buttoned and snapped the buckles of his coat around Lee's wait, felt the bones of his ribs which showed how malnourished he was . . . There. That would protect the Leaf nin from the dropping temperature and prevent any sand from getting into his open wounds. Gaara had created a safe spot with his chakra, the wind and sand blew over his defense and left them unscathed, so he wasn't worried about Lee ingesting more sand.

"Hurry up. We need to get him to Suna." Kankuro said, tugging his brother's sleeve, gesturing toward the direction of the village.

"He needs water." Gaara stated flatly. He looked back down at Lee, who still lay motionless on the cold desert floor. He frowned, concerned that the Leaf hadn't moved, and supported the older boy's neck as he eased him into a halfway sitting position. He supported the boy's light weight against his knee and pulled out a flask of water from his belt.Gaara lifted Lee's head and placed the mouth of the cantine against the Leaf Jounin's lips, urging him to swallow the water. Gently and slowly, he tilted back the flask and poured the water into the boy's mouth.

Lee didn't swallow the water, but instead breathed it in and began to gag on it. He coughed and sputtered helplessly and Gaara quickly turned his head to the side to allow him to spit out the liquid that was choking him. His frown deepened. He lied the boy back down and put the cap on the flask.

"Lee-san." Gaara called, placing one hand on the older male's shoulder and shaking him once. "Lee-san, can you hear me? You need to drink the water." Lee's head bobbed from side to side as the Kazekage shook him, but otherwise he lay completely motionless and unresponsive.

"Gaara, he could have been out here for days. Look at the condition he's in, he not waking up anytime soon." Knakuro spoke up from behind the Kazekage. "We shouldn't waste time. We need to take him to a hospital."

"Wait." Seeing that the Leaf wasn't going to awaken that easily, Gaara turned to checking his injuries. He unbuckled his coat, now stained with blood and sweat, and looked down on Lee's bloody chest and abdomen. The slashes that ripped the Jounin's green suit were unearthly, vicious and might have been intending to kill the taijutsuist.

Slowly, Gaara pulled at the torn and useless spandex that had still managed to cling to Lee's limbs. He ripped it more from the top and slipped it out from underneath the sleeping Leaf nin. He growled at the wounds on Lee's chest when he saw them at their full velocity. They were deep, but not as deep as Gaara had once thought. They were treatable and the wounded Shinobi would be back to his old self quickly--that is, as soon as Gaara got him treated.

The Kazekage looked down at the Jounin's legs. The spandex pants weren't as bad as the shirt part, and Gaara was planning on leaving them on. He didn't think that Lee wore anything underneath the skin-tight uniform, so he was going to play it safe and leave the pants where they were. However, the leg warmers he could live without . . .

He quickly slipped off the yellow leg warmers and then his eyes widened a fraction when he saw that Lee was still wearing his weights. Gaara unstrapped the weights and pushed them away. He returned to examine the Leaf's mutilated chest. Lee was bruised almost everywhere and had dried blood and sand caked onto half of his body. The doctors would clean that off when they got to Suna . . .

"Gaara, hurry. He'll die if we waste anymore time."

"I said wait." The redhead looked back up at Lee and stared intently at his eyes. He saw no movement beneath the lids. Curiously, he lifted one of them gently, sympathetic to the scratches on them, and saw a black pupil completely unseeing and cloudy. He checked the other one and saw the same thing. He frowned deeper. He had a feeling that Lee was more than just unconscious.

"Something's wrong." He muttered, and Kankuro knelt next to him.

"What?" The Sand Jounin inquired, looking to his brother curiously.

"Look at his eyes. He's not moving . . . this is different than what we first thought." Gaara reopened the Leaf's eyes to show his brother exactly what he was talking about.

Kankuro's eyebrows met together in deep thought when he saw Lee's blank eyes. "You're right . . ."

"Kazekage-sama . . ."

Gaara looked over his shoulder at the man who had addressed him. A young Jounin who had graduated not to long ago. He stepped forward as he spoke, showing his leader that he had something to say. When Gaara nodded for him to continue, he stood straight and raised his voice so he could be heard over the howl of the wind. "Kazekage-sama, by looking at him and going by what I see, maybe he's been trapped in an illusionary technique."

If Gaara had any eyebrows they would have shot up. "A genjustu?"

The young Jounin nodded once, and then stepped back a little. "Yes, Sir."

Gaara nodded again, slowly, considering the idea. It would make more sense. Lee would have at least stirred when Gaara had called him, or tried to give him water. "Do you know how to dispell a genjutsu?"

The young soldier nodded quickly. "Yes Sir. If one wants to dispell a genjutsu, shaking or hitting the person will usually do the trick." The kid quoted, obviously pleased that he could be of use.

Gaara looked down at Lee. "I am not going to hit him." He stated to himself. He shook the Leaf again by the arm. "Lee-san. Wake up. Lee-san." He continued for a few minutes, but to no avail. Lee never moved. "Is there any other way to wake him?" The Kazekage inquired the young Jounin standing behind him.

"Uhm . . ." Was the only reply he got while the young man thought.

"Your chakra."

Gaara looked up at his older brother curiously. "What?" He asked the puppeteer.

"Put some of your chakra into his body. It'll stop the illusion and wake him up." The older Jounin told him, nodding at Lee's motionless form on the ground.

Gaara turned his attention back to the Leaf Jounin lying in front of him. _My chakra . . ._ Cautiously, the redhead placed both of his hands on Lee's shoulder--where he wasn't injured--and concentrated on keeping a steady flow of chakra going to his hands and down to his fingers. Gently, he gave it a push and--

He recoiled quickly, yanking his hands back into his lap, when Lee suddenly gave a start and began to cough. The older Jounin gasped and sputtered and tossed his head from side to side. Gaara placed his hands back onto Lee's shoulder and held him down gently. "Lee-san. Calm down." He called to the thrashing boy on the ground.

Lee groaned and coughed again, this time a thin trail of blood and saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth. Gaara quickly lifted him up slightly and propped him against his knee. He tilted his head to the side to assure the Leaf nin wouldn't choke on his own blood. Lee gaged again and more blood escaped past his lips, staining Gaara's pants and hitting the ground, dying the sand crimson.

"Lee-san." Gaara spoke his name slowly and clearly, making sure that it would be audible for the other Shinobi, who's coughing spasm had begun to slow down until he lay panting against Gaara's knee. The Kazekage used his free hand to feel the wounded man's forehead. The older Shinobi was sweating from his outburt, and was most likely in great pain due to his wounds. He whimpered slightly under Gaara's touch.

"Lee-san, can you open your eyes?" Gaara inquired, unsure if the other male was even conscious.

He waited for any type of response, and got one in the form of Lee's eyebrows furrowing together. The ebony-haired boy moaned, his left arm moving slightly in a weak attempt to grab his waist where he was injured. He pried one eye open a crack and gazed past Gaara to stare at the darkening desert sky.

"Lee-san?" Gaara asked, leaning his head over him more to examine the Leaf's slowly opening eyes, making sure he hadn't taken any damage to them.

"Ugh . . ." Lee groaned, finally focusing his vision on the redhead towering over him. His scratched eyelids dissapeard from sight as his eyes opened all the way. "K-K-Kaze . . . kage . . .s-s-sama . . ." He sputtered weakly, trying with all his remaining strength to sit upright.

"Lee-san, stay where you are. Don't move." Gaara held him down gently by the shoulders and reached to his belt again to retrieve his flask of water. He placed the opening of the bottle to the older boy's lips. "Drink." He commanded, and slowly tipped the bottle back to allow the water to get into Lee's mouth.

The Leaf nin jerked slightly at the sudden contact of the liquid on his tongue, but then gratefully began to take in the water, moaning in discomfort when Gaara pulled the flask away from him.

"You can't have too much. You'll make yourself sick." Gaara recapped the bottle of water and reattached it to his belt. He tenderly pulled Lee's arm to rest over his own chest, where he wasn't wounded as badly, and then shifted. He hooked his other arm beneath Lee's leg and then braced himself as he heaved upward and stood straight, supporting the other Jounin's weight in his arms.

Lee's breath caught in his throat and he cried out weakly, pain obvious in his features, which had twisted and contorted in a look of sheer agony. "K-Kazek-k-kage . . . sama . . ." He ground out from between clenched teeth.

"Don't talk. I'm taking you to a hospital in Suna. Just close your eyes and rest. We'll be there in a moment." When Lee had complied and his black eyes had slipped closed again, Gaara turned to Kankuro who had been standing by quietly. "I'm going on alone. It'll be quicker and safer for us, and especially Lee."

Kankuro nodded once, turning toward the men. "All right, we're going on ahead. If we hurry, we can make it back to Suna by morning." He returned his gaze to his younger brother, who had closed his eyes in order to concentrate on the jutsu he was about to use. "Be careful." He warned as the sand began to rise around the redhead and the wounded Leaf nin in his arms.

Gaara nodded once, and then the sand billowed around him like a mini dust devil. Whipping up and over his head, whirling and dancing with a life of its own.

When the dust had cleared and Kankuro reopened his eyes, his Kazekage and the Leaf were gone, probably halfway in Suna already.

**Songstone: Please guys. I hate to be begging like this, but I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts once more.  
**


	2. Hysterics

**One Day**

**A story by Songstone**

**Songstone: All right! It took me all day, but I moved you guys' reviews to this account! I kept your names, so you'll at least know when it was you. XD Anyway, here is the next chapter. I'll try and hurry and post the rest now.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**Chapter 2: Hysterics**

The first thing Gaara noticed when he walked into the hospital room, three days later, were the three doctor's positioned over Lee's bed. They all looked up and quickly bowed in greeting to their Kazekage. "Is Lee-san doing all right?" Gaara asked as soon as he had greeted the other men and made his way to stand beside the Leaf nin's bedside.

He examined the older boy's condition briefly. His complexion had cleared and had returned to its normal skin tone, whereas before his skin was ashen and sickly. The scratches across his face had healed some, too, leaving only small red lines running down his forehead to his chin.

The older of the three men nodded his head a fraction at Gaara's question. Dr. Yamata had been Gaara's personal doctor ever since he became Kazekage. That was why Gaara had assigned him to take care of Rock Lee while he recovered in the Intensive Care Unit of Suna's hospital. He trusted the older man to take care of the Leaf while he was gaining his strength back from whatever had injured him. "Lee-san has regained his strength, though he has yet to wake up from the coma." He said, a thoughtful glance directed back at the injured male resting below him.

Lee hadn't so much as batted an eyelash ever since Gaara had brought him back to Suna, three days ago. His comatose state was the sorce of worry amongst his doctors and nurses. They had cleaned out his wounds and stitched him up, reporting that, thankfully, there weren't any internal injuries, though he was severely dehydrated and appeared as though he hadn't eaten in days.

"I see . . ." Gaara muttered, staring back down at the Leaf. He saw a slight movement beneath the other boy's eyelids, and then suddenly Lee's heartbeat, which had once been steady and rythmatic, according to the heart monitors, jumped and began to beat erratically. "Lee-san." Gaara said, his attention drawn fully toward the wounded Shinobi.

Lee gasped suddenly, throwing his head back into the pillow, exposing the tanned skin of his neck. His unbandaged hands, scarred and broken, gripped the hospital bedsheets and twisted them mercilessly. His mouth opened and soon after, so did his eyes. The black pupils focused and searched his surroundings. They finally landed on Gaara and his mouth moved while he struggled to talk.

"K-K-Ka . . . Kazekage-sama . . . I . . . I--" He groaned, but Gaara shook his head at him, silencing the Jounin.

"Don't talk, Lee-san. Save your energy. You're in a hospital here in Suna, and when you are recovered, Naruto and Sakura are here to take you back to Konoha." Gaara summarized the last three days events for the dazed man, who was still looking at him, only now more intently.

The taijutsuist inhaled deeply and then heaved himself upward, propping himself up and leaning against the pillows. His eyes screwed shut tightly and his entire face contorted into that of torture. He gasped and moaned aloud, his left arm hooking itself around his waist.

"Lee-san, you shouldn't move. Stay lying down." Gaara warned him, motioning with a hand for the Konoha Jounin to sink back into the bed.

Lee ignored him, however, and settled into a position where he was more comfortable. He reopened his eyes and focused once again on the redhead waiting by his bedside. Gaara was beginning to wonder why he was staring at him like that . . .

"Kazekage-sama . . ." Lee's voice had gotten stronger, that was a good sign. He continued to watch Gaara with his black eyes, unblinking and never once looking away from the Kazekage. "I . . . how did I end up here? I was . . ." His eyes suddenly went round and the air froze, mid-breath, in his chest. "I was . . ." He began to shake visibly and his hearbeat on the monitor was making frantic beeping noises in the background. "I was . . . uhhhgggnnn . . ." Lee's hands shot up quickly to his head, grasping hadfulls of his hair and tugging as he bent forward, his face again one of suffering.

Gaara leaned down lower to Lee, gently placing a hand on the Jounin's shoulder. "Lee-san, calm down. Lie down and--"

Lee jerked away from Gaara's touch and screamed once, long and loud. His hands pulled down on his hair until a ripping sound could be heard, and then Lee was left holding two clumps of his black locks in his twisted, vice-like grip. He breathed in deeply and screamed again, throwing his head back and his hands releasing their grip on his loose hair. They formed into tight claws and suddenly, visciously, he raked his fingernails down and across his own face, reopening the wounds over his eyes and nose. The blood ran down, into his eyes and mouth and he continued to scream.

Gaara was taken aback at first, but then quickly regained his composure and grabbed the thrashing man's hands, trying to prevent him from injuring himself further. He held him down while the doctors scrambled about the room frantically, searching for needles and medicine--anything to help calm down the foreign patient.

"Lee-san! Calm down! Stop it!" Gaara called, but he was ignored as Lee continued to kick and scream against him.

"Ahhhhh . . . . uhhhhgggnnn . . . . Make it stop!" Lee screeched, his head flying from side to side in his battle against the Kazekage. "Uwwwaaahhh! No! Stop it! Please!" He bucked and tried to punch, but Gaara held his arms in place, being careful of Lee's wounds even if Lee wasn't.

"Lee-san! Stop! What's wrong?" He found himself leaning halfway over the bed as he tried to restrain the frenzied taijustuist. His black rimmed eyes widened a fraction when Lee gazed up at him, his charcoal colored eyes filled to the brim with tears. He sobbed once, and they overflowed, staining his cheeks with tears. "Lee-san. What's wrong? Tell me." Gaara's face kept frozen in a mask of apathy, and his voice remained steady in a hope that it would help calm the older man down a bit.

Lee sobbed again and harder, until he was trembling and weeping uncontrollably under Gaara's hold. "Make it stop . . . please . . . I just want it to stop . . . " Lee sobbed, his voice quivering and breaking helplessly.

"What? What do you want to stop?" Gaara asked.

Lee suddenly jerked back and began to thrash about again. His legs kicked up and his arms tried to break free from Gaara's grip. He tossed his head from side to side and bucked his hips, throwing all of his bodyweight into each of his fluid movements. He screamed again, tears streaming down his face, and hiccuped when he stopped to take a breath.

"Lee-san! I can't help you unless you tell me what's wrong!" Gaara demanded, pushing down on Lee's arms.

Lee looked back up at the Kazekage and whimpered slightly. "Make it stop . . ." He pleaded helplessly.

"Make what stop? Lee-san, tell me."

Lee was about to speak up, but, upon seeing a doctor fast approaching with an needle in hand, he cried out again and began to thrash about wildly.

"No!" He wailed, kicking out with his leg and hitting the doctor's arm, sending the needle flying. "Ahhhhh . . . . No! Stop it! Leave me alone!" He screamed again, but a quick shake from the Kazekage to his arms, made him stop and glance up shakily.

"What do I need to do?" Gaara asked again, looking straight back into Lee's fevered eyes, assuring that the Leaf wouldn't look away.

Lee winced once, a spasm of pain, Gaara guessed, and then began to sob and shiver. He clenched his eyes shut tightly. "I need you to make it stop . . . Kazekage-sama! Please make it stop!"

"Lee-san! What do I have to stop?" Gaara shook him again and Lee reopened his eyes, fresh waves of tears spilling over onto his cheeks.

He looked up at the redheaded man above him and stared directly into his eyes. Emotions scrolled across the Leaf's face and Gaara noted them all silently. Fear and Pain were the ones most obvious, though.

"The voice, Kazekage-sama . . ." Lee whispered shakily, his bottom lip trembling along with his words . "The voice . . . I want the voice to stop . . . "

Gaara's eyes narrowed in thought. He loosened his grip on Lee's arms since he seemed to be more in control of himself now. "Voice? What voice do you hear, Lee-san?" He asked curiously. He was getting a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach . . .

Lee used his freed hands to wipe his face clean and then cover his ears. He groaned, and then that groan turned into an agonized wail that bounced around the room. "The voice! The voice! Kazekage-sama, the voice in my head! Uhhhgggnnn . . . Stop it!" He leaned forward and reached out with one hand to grip Gaara's nearby wrist. Gaara winced slightly when Lee squeezed his hand with unnatural strength.

Lee moaned again and then screamed. He began to sob and then looked back up at Gaara, his eyes wide, frantic and pleading. "Please, Kazekage-sama! Please! Make the voice in my head go away!"

**Songstone: Wow . . . this chapter got to be pretty hectic . . . it was a real challenge to write! Sorry, if it was so short, but I thought it would be the appropriate length--I want to keep you guys in suspence for a while . . . Yeah, I'm evil. I know. XD R&R please!**


	3. The Voice

**One Day**

**A story by Songstone**

**Songstone: Phew . . . finally . . . I finished this chapter! Yay!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 3: The voice**

The sudden knock on the door made Gaara glance up from his paperwork. He told whoever was on the other side of his office to enter, and then returned his gaze down to the piles of papers waiting on his desk. He heard the doorknob turn, and then a slam the indicated the door had been thrown into the wall. His left eye twitched and his looked up wearily. _Here comes the noise . . ._

"Hey, Gaara! What's up?" Naruto came bounding into the Kazekage's office, a happy grin spread across his face. He shut the door behind himself a bit too harshly and it made a slamming noise against its wooden frame. He took a seat infront of Gaara's desk before the said man had even given him permission to do so.

Gaara sighed inwardly. He didn't mind Naruto, but he acted more like an annoying younger sibling than he would have liked. He was a bit too loud for the Kazekage's sensitive ears, as well. "Hello, Naruto." He greeted in his usual calm, passive tone. He carefully put down his pen and paper and laced his fingers togther. He rested his chin on his entwined hands and gazed over at the blond who had invaded his office. "What brings you here?" He inquired, his aqua eyes searching the other man for his reasons.

Naruto's smile twitched downward, and then he sighed heavily. He rubbed his temples with two fingers, looking up at Gaara with an expression the Kazekage rarely saw on the other boy--worry, and just the slightest hint of fear. "I came to talk about what's happening to Lee." The blond began, his tone of voice suddenly very serious.

Gaara nodded once, and sat straight in his chair. "Yes, Lee-san has been acting strangely. Has something happened at the hospital?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. Not today. He's just sitting in bed, rocking back and forth and talking to himself. He does scratch his arms occassionally, but the doctors usually stop him before it gets out of hand . . ." He trailed off, itching a spot on his chin lazily.

Ever since that incident two days ago, when Lee had woken up and began to scream and thrash about wildly, the doctors had kept him under tight sirvailance, just in case he got out of control again. So far, he hadn't had another episode, but he refused to eat or drink anything, and often spent his time staring at the far wall or talking to himself. Gaara had gone to see him once, not too long after the doctors had sedated him, and he was calmer. The Leaf nin didn't seem to notice that he was there, staring straight past him and muttering incoherrent words to himself. His hands had twisted themselves into tight claws, and he had started to rake his nails up and down his legs, almost to the point of making himself bleed. It was like he wasn't even in his right mind, rather, he was daydreaming or thinking deeply to himself.

"What did you do to make him go nuts?" Naruto asked, stretching in the chair that he had made himself comfortable in.

Gaara's eye twitched again. "I didn't do anything to him." He said, watching the other man lying down across the chair.

Naruto smirked and waved a hand at the redhead, as if he were talking to a casual friend rather than the Kazekage of Suna. "I know. You wouldn't hurt him. But I want to know what happened to him . . . he won't talk to me or Sakura-chan--which is surprising, because before, he would bend over backwards, sometimes literally, just to get her to say hi to him."

Gaara scoffed slightly. He admired the "Beautiful Green Beast" of Konoha, but his attempts at attracting women were sometimes questionable . . .

"So why are you telling me this? Unless he's finally come to his senses and is speaking coherently, then I don't need a status report." Gaara returned his attention to the paperwork on his desk and pretended to ignore the blue-eyed Shinobi.

Naruto scoffed, his legs swinging over the chair to place themselves flat on the floor. "I just thought that you'd want to know how he was doing." He said, raising an eyebrow at the redheaded eighteen-year-old.

"When he gets well, come and get me and I'll see you three off. Otherwise, I'm sure that the doctors will take care of him." Gaara continued to place his signature on a few of the papers, sorting them off to one side and then repeating the process. He heard the Leaf Shinobi make a frustrated noise.

"Fine. If that's how you feel . . ." Naruto rose from his seat quickly, stalking his way over to the door.

"It is." Gaara clarified, continuing to read and sign the many papers and forms that rested on his desk.

"Fine." Naruto opened the door and placed one foot outside, ready to leave. He stopped, however, and instead turned back around to face Gaara. "But just so you know . . ." Gaara glanced up and looked at the other boy quizzically. "When Lee is talking, 'coherent' or not, he's asking for you. He says he needs to talk to you. Anyway, see you." The blond Leaf nin waved informally, and walked outside, shutting the door a bit too hard behind himself.

Gaara's black rimmed eyes widened a fraction at hearing that last part of what Naruto had said. Lee was asking for him? Why? What could the wounded Leaf want from Gaara, when his own friends couldn't even get him to speak two words to them? Gaara sighed aloud and put down his pen again. Well, he hadn't planned on revisiting the hospital, but it looked like he was going to have to pay the Leaf another visit after all . . .

- - -

Gaara walked into the Intensive Care Unit of Suna's hospital and looked around for Lee's room number. It wasn't hard to find, because Gaara had assigned two ANBU guards to watch over the Leaf while he recovered. Their painted masks were the first thing Gaara saw as he made his way down the narrow hall.

"How is he?" He demanded the taller of the two guards, who bowed before he answered.

"He's awake right now, Sir, and in relatively good condition, considering all the self harm he's been putting himself through. He still refuses to eat, however, so that has the doctors a bit flustered. And the two Leaf Shinobi assigned to take him back to Konoha left a few minutes ago to get something to eat for themselves."

Gaara nodded his head and inch and pushed past them. His hand rested on the doorknob, but he hesitated at opening it. He turned back to look up at the ANBU officer who was once again at his post. "If Naruto or Sakura come by again, tell them that Lee-san isn't taking anymore visitors." When the guard had agreed and bowed formally, Gaara turned the knob on the door and pushed it open. He stepped inside slowly. "Lee-san?" He called calmly.

"Quiet . . . quiet . . . quiet . . ." The soft words greeted his ears and he looked around the room to locate the source. He soon found it. Lee was sitting on the edge of his hospital bed, his legs curled up against his chest. His scarred arms were wrapped around his knees and he slowly rocked himself back and forth. His black eyes were wide, staring blank and unblinking into the opposing wall. And his soft voice was an eerie chant in the background noises. "Quiet . . . quiet . . . quiet . . ." He didn't seem aware of Gaara prescence.

The Kazekage inched his way closer to the muttering Leaf Jounin and took a seat in a hard wicker chair directly in front of him. He watched intently as Lee continued to rock back and forth, talking to himself, his round eyes never once leaving the spot on the wall. "Lee-san." Gaara called again, searching the older man's face for any sign that he might have heard him.

Lee froze suddenly, his expressionless face morphing into one of confusion. His eyes focused and he blinked once. He turned his gaze down to Gaara, who sat awaiting his words. His jaw fell open and he made an odd noise as if he were trying to talk, but was gagging on his words.

"Lee-san, Naruto said that you were asking for me." Gaara stated patiently, hoping to coax the boy into saying something understandable.

Lee blinked again, snapping his jaw shut. He took a deep breath through his nose and blinked twice, moisterizing his dark eyes, which were probably dry and painful. He reopened his mouth and made another strange noise. "Kazekage-sama . . ." He whispered hoarsely, his voice scratchy from the lack of the fluids he had been refusing lately. "Kazekage-sama . . . y-you came . . ." He seemed genuinely surprised and confused, his round eyes burning intently into Gaara's.

Gaara nodded once, firmly. "Of course." He stated flatly. "Naruto said that you were asking for me." He watched as Lee began to nod also, his black bangs hanging low in front of his eyes.

"He said . . . he said that you wouldn't come . . . he told me that you wouldn't come . . . but he was wrong . . ." He smiled a bit and laughed shortly. He let his legs slip down until his the tips of his toes were touching the ground. His arms wrapped themselves loosely around his own waist and he continued to rock himself gently.

Gaara's eyes narrowed in thought and a crease formed in his brow. "Naruto said that I wasn't coming?" He would have to have a talk with the Kyuubi boy as soon as he was done talking to--

Lee surprised Gaara by jumping off of the bed to stand in front of the redhead. He kneeled down on one knee and grabbed Gaara's left wrist fiercely. The Kazekage, startled, stared down at the Leaf Jounin who still had a firm grip on his arm. "Lee-san? Are you all right?" He was getting concerned by the way the older male was staring at him . . .

Lee shook his head roughly. Either answering a definate "no" to Gaara question, or refusing something completely in his own thoughts. "No . . ." He muttered, barely audibly, and Gaara strained his ears to hear what he was saying. He continued to shake his head, his dark hair falling in front of his face as he did so. "No Kazekage-sama . . . Naruto-kun didn't say those things . . ." He shook his head more fiercely and gave Gaara's wrist a squeeze that made the Kage cringe.

"Lee-san, that hurts." He stated, trying meekly to pull his hand away from the black-eyed Shinobi without startling him too badly.

Lee's grip didn't falter, and his hold was still amazingly strong as he held the Kazekage's wrist in place, refusing to release the younger man. "Naruto-kun didn't say those things to me . . ." Lee continued, oblivious to Gaara's complaints against his actions.

Gaara winced as Lee's arm spasmed and he gave the redhead's wrist a tight squeeze. It was painfully clear to Gaara that Lee wasn't going to listen to reason. He was too far gone for that. Instead, Gaara reached forward with his free hand and gripped Lee's shoulder. He shook the boy once. "Lee-san. What are you talking about?" He demanded, staring directly into Lee's charcoal colored eyes when the older Shinobi had jumped and glanced up at him. The other man shifted and squirmed slightly, but Gaara held his gaze. He was going to get an answer one way or another.

Something shifted behind Lee's eyes and his face was suddenly blank, expressionless and unblinking once again. His round eyes stared up at Gaara, but the Kazekage knew that Lee was no longer paying him any attention. He was staring at something that only he could see and had probably forgoten that Gaara was even there.

The Kazekage heaved a heavy sigh and took his opportunity to free his captured wrist from the Jounin's grasp. He was surprised that when he tried to pry Lee's fingers from his skin, that he met resistance. Looking back down at the Leaf nin, he saw that his eyes seemed more intent, and that he was once again focused completely on Gaara. Something was distraught behind those twin onyx eyes, and Gaara wanted to know what it was. He clasped one hand on the Jounin's left shoulder and stared down at him, his gaze softer by comparison to the usual apathetic mask that he wore all the time. "Lee-san." He spoke the older boy's name with careful inflections, making his voice a bit louder, but still very calm and still. "Tell me what's wrong. Who is the voice you hear in your head?"

For a moment, Lee's naturally round eyes widened bigger than Gaara had ever seen them. He stared up at the Kazekage in a mix of shock and wonder. He began to sputter, but quickly caught himself and took a couple of deep breaths. "You . . . you beleive me, Kazekage-sama? About the voice I hear?"

Gaara watched the Leaf's face with interest. Rock Lee wasn't the type of guy who would lie about something like that. In fact, Rock Lee wasn't the type of guy who would lie at all. Gaara didn't think that the Shinobi was capable of lying even if his life depended on it. As far as Gaara saw it, kindness was Lee's ultimate weakness. He nodded curtly in answer to Lee's question. "Yes. Now tell me what you hear the voice saying."

Lee breathed in loudly through his nose and closed his eyes for a moment. His grip on the Kazekage's wrist faultered slightly as he concentrated on something. Gaara took his opportunity and slipped his hand away from the older boy before the elder would notice and try to hold onto him.

"He says . . ." Lee began slowly, as if testing the words in his mouth before he actually spoke them. He licked his lips, his small pink tongue tracing the outline of his mouth, moisterizing where his lips were cracked and split open. "He says that . . . that no one will help . . . that no one cares . . ." His dark eyes locked with Gaara's and became watery. "It isn't true, is it? Tell me it isn't true!" He made a grab for Gaara's wrist again, but the Kazekage caught him before he could start to squeeze him again, and held the Jounin's stitched up hand in his own.

"No. It's not true. Now tell me what else he says." Gaara was taking his time with the wounded man. He didn't want Lee to suddenly shut down and not talk to him like he had done earlier.

"He says . . ." Lee blinked again, and then looked worried. His head shot up and he was gazing up at the Kazekage once again, a furious burning building up behind his eyes. He gripped the redhead's small, pale hand in his two larger ones and squeezed a bit rougher than expected.

Gaara waited patiently while Lee tried to compose his thoughts. He didn't want to push him too hard and have him cringe away from everyone. At least if he was talking to Gaara, then the Kazekage could tell his doctors and they would have some idea as to what was ailing the Leaf nin.

Lee swallowed hard, licking his lips twice to moisten them, and then reopened his mouth to talk. "He says that he's going to kill me. He says that he doesn't want to be inside of me. And he says that I'm going to die when he gets free. He . . . uhhhgggnnn . . . he's talking right now!" Lee clutched his head with both hands, releasing his grip on Gaara's arm and pulling away from the Kazekage. He screwed his eyes shut and pulled a bit on his hair as his fingers wound their way around his black locks. "He's telling me . . . he says . . ." He reopened his eyes and stared at Gaara with concern and fear overpowering the twin onyx orbs. "He says that . . . he will kill you too, Kazekage-sama."

Gaara was surprised at hearing this little piece of information. Lee was hearing death-threats? "Why does he want to kill us, Lee? Do you know who he is?" Lee had given the gender of the voice as a 'he' so now Gaara was curious about 'his' intentions.

Lee shook his head in answer to the first question, meaning that he didn't know why he and Gaara were being threatened, and began to speak softly to clarify Gaara's second inquiry. "I know his name . . . and he knows you too, Kazekage-sama . . ."

This made Gaara's eyes go wide. "He knows me?" This was just getting too weird.

Lee nodded once, his black bangs making shadows over his face. "Yes. His name is . . ."

Somehow, in the back of Gaara's mind, he knew the answer that was coming, but he didn't want to admit to himself that something like this could happen to someone like Lee. He braced himself for what the Leaf nin was about to say, but when the ebony-haired man uttered the last few words, Gaara still felt a cold, hard lump fall from his chest to rest at the pit of his stomach.

"He told me his name last night . . ." Tears streamed down Lee's slender face as he looked back up at the redhead he was kneeling before. "His name is . . . Shukaku . . . and he wants to kill me."

**Songstone: Well, please tell me what you think about this one. I worked hard on it, so please review!**


	4. Seals

**One Day**

** A story by Songstone**

**Songstone: O...M...G...I finally finished this chapter! Not only that, I'm on a roll with my others as well! So, here it is. Hope you like.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**Chapter 4: Seals**

"Gaara, Tsunade's here."

Gaara looked up from his desk at the sound of his sister's voice at the doorway. He nodded once as a reply to her statement and then rose swiftly from his seat, stepping around his large oak desk. "Is she with Lee?" He inquired as he walked past Temari and out into the hallway.

His older sister shut the door to his office and followed him as he made his way outside of the Kazekage tower. They went through the large lobby of sorts and exited the building completely, stepping out into the warm yellow sunlight. "Yeah. She's examining him right now. She can't really get too close because of . . . you know." Temari walked next to the redhead, their steps in sync as they made their way toward Suna's hospital.

"Hn." Gaara nodded, his eyes straight ahead and his arms crossed over his chest as he walked. His strides were quick and long, kicking up dust as he stepped over the streets of Sunagakure. The streets were unnaturally quiet as they approached the hospital, most of the civilians inside their houses for fear of what was happening.

As they neared the large building a few blocks away from Gaara's house, a strong sense of danger prickled the Kazekage's skin and made a few hairs on his neck rise and stand straight. It had been four days since Lee had told Gaara what the voice in his head was saying as well as who he was. At first, Gaara didn't want to admit that it was true; Shukaku, the demon that had been extracted from his body three years ago, was residing in a forgein Jounin that hadn't had any ties to the Akatsuki or the Bijuu himself. _How did this happen?_ Gaara wondered to himself as he pushed the doors to the hospital open and stepped inside. The wide halls were silent and dim as the Kazekage made his way toward the basement of the building, his sister trailing him all the way.

"Are you sure that it's safe for the villagers here? Maybe we should evacuate before we begin this." Temari was saying as she followed Gaara down the long flight of stairs that led to the basement of the hospital. Her footsteps were a distant echo on the floor as the Kazekage made his way toward another stairway, one that led to a sub-basement.

"The villagers will be fine." Gaara said in his usual impassive monotone, his steps against the concrete never losing pace as he walked around the many cracks in the stairs and evaded the spiders and rats that scattered around his feet.

There was a pause as Temari thought silently to herself. Then she sighed slightly. "If you say so."

Gaara stopped walking and gazed up at a large, heavily bolted door. He grabbed the handle and pulled once, feeling the hinges move as they gave way and allowed the door to slide open for the red head. He had a dreadful feeling in his stomach today--actually, the same feeling had been plagueing Gaara ever since Lee told him what he was hearing.

As soon as the door was opened all the way, Gaara stepped inside, holding it open for Temari and then shutting it himself, leaving the locks and bolts to be sealed by the three ANBU that were positioned by the door. Temari was now in front of him, her hands on her hips as she looked up at the large structure standing before her and her younger brother. Following her gaze, Gaara felt himself stiffen, almost growling but stopping himself on time.

The first thing about the strange jutsu that caught the redhead's attention were the chains that pinned Lee's bloody and scratched up hands up and over his head. His ankles were pinned as well, leaving him standing in a strange position with his legs spread out wide and his arms pulled back over his head. His biceps were strained, as they had to support his upper body weight while he hung from the restraints limply, his chin tucked into his chest. Lee's jet black hair was falling loosely in front of his face, concealing his eyes in a dark mask. Gaara strained his eyes, trying to look in deeper past the sepia colored barrier that was holding Lee captive, and saw that the Shinobi's mouth was moving in quiet, inaudible words.

"Gaara! Geez, what took you so long? I've been waiting here for quite a while and I have to say, that I don't like it one bit. This isn't a place that someone should be in for more than a few minutes. It's really creepy, to say the least." Turning on his heel, Gaara looked up at the busty, blonde woman that was sauntering toward him and Temari. Tsunade didn't seem happy about the situation or Lee's mental state by the way she was glaring at the ebony haired boy behind the barrier. "I don't believe that Lee got captured . . ." She muttered, shaking her head dissaprovingly.

"If it had been anyone else, the same thing would have happened, so there's no use blaming Lee for his situation. Now can we please just get this over and done with?" Gaara crossed his arms over his chest, breathing out a puff of air when he finished his sentence. He wasn't liking the situation, and seeing Lee being restrained like that only made his temper flare.

Tsunade huffed, placing both hands on her hips angrily. "Well, if that's how you want it." She mumbled, and then ordered her follower, Shizune, to get in place. "Gaara," The blonde started, not even bothering to call him formally. "Get in position over there with your sister and listen to everything I say." She ordered, stepping around the barrier and standing in the middle of a circle drawn on the concrete floor. The circle connected to many lines and stray designs that went around the whole sepia barrier, all somehow they all found a way around Lee's legs, creating a circle around him.

Following orders, Gaara and his sister stepped around the barrier opposite of the two Konoha medi-nins. They both found circles spaced apart widely from each other. Gaara saw Tsunade through the oddly colored barricade and immitated her movement, standing in the middle of it. Temari made an irritated noise from somewhere off to his side, but he didn't turn to see what was wrong. His eyes were glued on the Leaf nin behind the wall. "Why is he being held in such a manner?" He asked, directing the question to the leader of Konoha, though his eyes didn't look away from Lee.

The blonde woman sighed, as if it pained her to have to explain her actions. "The tanuki inside of him has been active lately. Talking to him nonstop, correct?" When she had gotten a nod from Gaara, she waved her hands as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You of all people should know how the Shukaku acts, Gaara. He's wearing Lee down so that he'll be able to get free. Right now, Lee can barely keep his eyes open." She gestured to the ebony haired man, who was currently mumbling to himself. "We need to get this seal finished up. This barrier will react if Lee falls asleep, giving him an electric shock through those chains he has on. Nothing serious, but it's worked so far, waking him up rather quickly. But I don't want to take the chance of having the Shukaku going on a rampage. He'll definately kill Lee before he moves onto us." She said, nodding her head to that statement.

Gaara didn't like the tone that Tsunade was speaking in. As if she held no faith for one of her most loyal and commited Shinobi. But he knew that she was right. The Shukaku was a very convincing demon and right now, if Gaara didn't know any better, the one tail was trying to talk Lee into sleeping. The taijutsu master was not used to the verbal attacks that the demon was capable of. The Kazekage's eye twitched ever so slightly as he watched the man in front of him.

Lee wasn't struggling like Gaara would have thought he would have been doing. The Leaf nin was staying completely still and limp while the people moved around him, talking about the situation at hand. The older man seemed too into his own 'conversation' to be listening to Tsunade while she screamed to Gaara to just lend her some of his chakra in case something went wrong. Gaara obeyed, nodding his head as he stood in place, watching the other male from the free side of the barrier. Lee was talking a bit louder now, and Gaara could almost make out what he was saying. Something that had to deal with "Kazekage" and "don't kill him."

The Hokage made her hand signs and placed both palms flat on the ground. Instantly, the strange writing that was around the outside of the sepia colored barrier started to quiver and move in an odd way. They suddenly jumped up from their spot on the ground and began to move beneath the barricade, sliding and maneuvering their way towards Lee. Gaara let his chakra flare up, feeling it being pulled towards the designs in the ground. They snaked their way back to Tsunade, who needed to use all of the extra chakra for the seal that she was making for Lee.

The aqua eyes stayed on Lee's motionless form the whole time, watching him for any signs that the Shukaku was breaking loose. But there wasn't anything in the other's movements, or lack there of, that showed that was happening. The only time Lee moved at all, was when the symbols started to crawl up his legs, beneath his pants. That was when his eyebrows met together and he twitched a bit, moving his legs as if trying to kick the moving black letters away from himself, though that didn't work too well.

Since Lee wasn't wearing a shirt, Gaara saw, from his position directly to Lee's right, where the small letters were heading. Directly in the small of his back, where they swirled and smeared over his tanned and scarred back. But once they had found a place, they settled down and began to sink beneath his skin, dying it black in the same strange symbols.

Then suddenly the silence was broken. First, it started as a whimper from the Leaf nin, probably due to the heat of the seals, then it graduated into moaning and then lastly, an ear splitting scream was released and the walls seemed to shake with its force. Gaara winced in sympathy for the ebony haired man and fought back the urge to close his eyes and cover his ears. He could feel the vibrations from the scream in the ground and growled low in his throat. _Hang on a while longer, Lee-san . . ._ The screaming continued for quite a while, the symbols and letters still swirling over the tanned skin, trying to form a perfect seal, but then all at once, the toneless shrieks of pain transformed into words.

"It hurts!" That was the first thing that Gaara's ears filtered out through the noise. He looked up from Lee's back directly at his face. He saw the two massive eyebrows met together over his eyes and his whole body was tense. He started to struggle against his restraints and pull at his arms, trying meekly to free himself. He was doing just as anyone would when they were in pain; Try to get away from it. And he wasn't fully coherent anymore, too far gone in his exhaustion and panic to make sense of his situation. Another loud wail and again, they formed words. "Make it stop!"

"Lee-san, please settle down and hold on a while longer." Gaara supposed that he had surprised everyone when he spoke, including himself. What did it matter to him, after all, what Lee was feeling? As long as the seal was getting done, why would he try and ease the other's discomfort? Truthfully, Gaara had no clue as to why he spoke up at all. He rarely became vocal if he could help it, but these screams were becoming too much. He _had_ to say something.

It seemed to work, in a small way. The screams stopped for a moment, turning into whimpers, and the thrashing of Lee's limbs stopped as well. There was a brief pause and the room was silent again, Tsunade giving the Kazekage a long look, probably wondering the same thing that Gaara was, himself. _What was that all about?_ But he shook his head, clearing his mind from those worries, and just continued to watch the Leaf nin.

Lee was starting to struggle again. His arms were tensing up and his legs were twitching like he was still kicking at the symbols that crawled beneath his pants to reach his back. Gaara watched, his gaze never faultering, as Lee's face twisted and contorted again into one of agony. It seemed to happen so suddenly, but then Lee had tossed his head back and his eyes had snapped open, releasing waves of tears that he had obviously been holding in. His mouth dropped open as well and that scream of his sounded again. It rang in Gaara's ears and he tensed up as well, remembering hearing that sound all too well. When the sand had closed around Lee's arm and leg and squeezed until the bones snapped . . . the white bones had broken through skin and he had nearly had to give up on becoming a Shinobi because of all the damage. But yet here he was, years later, as a Jounin. He had certainly proven everyone wrong.

Gaara felt that he had made up for injuring the man all those years ago. When he had come to Lee's aide in that open field and saved the older man's life. He had repayed his debt and Lee had even told him that he held no grudge about what Gaara had done to him. It still amazed the Kazekage everytime he saw the man. He remembered them as young Genin, and how Lee had actually stood up on a broken leg, ready to battle even when he had been knocked unconscious. How could he not be even a _little_ mad over everything that Gaaara had done? But . . . that was one of the things that Gaara found admirable in Rock Lee. He was forgiving. Really, he seemed way too kindhearted to be a Shinobi, but Gaara didn't doubt his strengths at all. He had been the first person to physically wound Gaara, after all. Being black and blue for a week after their battle, Gaara had decided that Lee was a worthy enemy and indeed someone that he needed to eliminate. But, that was years ago when he was still a monster and hadn't figured out that he needed other people in his life. He wasn't that way anymore, of course. He had changed for the better after his battle with Naruto Uzumaki. He was the Kazekage now, and his people depended on him, but Lee . . .

The screams got louder and Lee's whole body thrashed and bucked, fighting against the restraints and the pain in his body. He pulled and yanked roughly, though the chains holding him in place didn't break. Gaara had to take a moment and close his eyes, feeling how his chest had tightened and it was becoming hard to breathe. This feeling was unfamiliar . . . He didn't know what to call it, or if it even had a name, but he shoved it all to the back of his mind and tried to think about how much Lee needed this seal to happen. He needed to endure the pain, just for a while longer, so that the Shukaku wouldn't be whispering in his ear anymore. The tanuki was probably fighting back, and that was what was going on with Lee. But then again, seals were painful as well, so it was hard to determine what was causing him problems. _Lee-san, you're strong. Hold onto your wits for a while longer._ Gaara didn't want to become vocal again. It seemed that his throat had closed up on him for the moment and he didn't want to try and force out any words just yet.

But then, as if the screaming wasn't enough, Lee's mouth moved to form more words. "Ahhhnnn . . . auuugggghhhh . . . G . . . Gaara . . .!" That alone was enough to make the red haired man open his eyes and look up, but Lee continued to speak, hollering at the top of his lungs, obviously begging to be heard. "Gaara, I can't take it! It hurts too much!" A sob and Lee closed his eyes, his mouth closing as well. Gaara guessed that he was biting on his tongue, and that definitely wasn't a good thing. But soon enough, Lee was back to screaming as some of the last few symbols came up from beneath his pants and tried to find their spot on his back and around the other designs. But hearing those words had made Gaara's breath freeze momentarily and he felt his heart literally sink in his chest. Lee never called him by his first name anymore. It was 'Kazekage-sama' nowadys, but even if he were to slip up, it would always be 'Gaara-sama' or something of the sort. Never just 'Gaara'. And why was he calling for the redhead anyway? Gaara could understand if he were just screaming into the air, but he was actually directing his words to one specific person. Maybe the Shukaku was still speaking?

"Lee, get a hold of yourself!" The Hokage's voice broke through Gaara's scrambled thoughts and his aqua eyes flickered over to her for a brief moment before he turned back to face Lee. Yes, just a little while longer, the seal was almost done. But for Lee, a little while must have seemed like years away. Gaara only hoped vaguely that the ebony haired man could pull through. No, he had to.

Clearing his throat, the Kazekage only nodded his head to Tsunade's order and he stayed quiet. Lee, however, hadn't seemed to hear the older woman since he had continued to wail and thrash about wildly, desperate to get free and away from the pain. What was even worse, was that he continued to scream for Gaara, begging that he do something to stop the pain he was feeling. And it made the younger man's heart ache horribly since he could do nothing. He usually didn't feel such emotion towards one person, but Lee . . . they shared something now. He held the Shukaku, Gaara's former demon. The Kazekage still wasn't sure why that was so, but he knew that he and Lee and himself were the only two people still alive that had to put up with the tanuki's screams and cursing.

It seemed like forever to Gaara ( And probably moreso to Lee ), but at last, the seal was finished, leaving very elaborate marks along the small of Lee's back. Tsunade clapped her hands together once and stood upright, nodding to the ANBU and to Gaara that they could move and step into the circle if they wished. The sepia barrier was removed, finally, and Lee's body slumped forward lifelessly. There was a fleeting moment where Gaara feared that the older man had died during the sealing process, but his wheezing indicated that he was very much alive. His whole body was drenched in sweat and his coal colored eyes were dull, glazed over and empty as they lay half open. He looked nothing at all like the lively bundle of energy that he had been not too long ago.

A few swift steps later and Gaara was in the center of the circle, standing over Lee's body as the ANBU had caught him and lied him down on a strecher while Shizune removed the cuffs on his limbs and hurriedly checked him over. She muttered a few things to herself and then nodded, babbling something over her shoulder to Tsunade, who made a proud noise and nodded her head.

Gaara wasn't really paying attention to what was being said around him since he was too busy looking down at Lee. The man looked paler, though that wasn't surprising. He seemed frail and sickly at that moment, and Gaara had to remind himself over and over that it was still the same Rock Lee who had come bouncing into Suna weeks eariler. Only now, Lee wasn't the only one in his body . . . Sealed or not, the Shukaku was lurking within him and that fact alone made Gaara cringe. He hated that tanuki and what it had been putting Lee through since it had been enough to push Lee to tears and maybe even a mental breakdown.

"Lee-san." The name got a flicker from beneath the now closed eyelids and Gaara stepped back a bit to allow the medical nins around him to gently lift the Leaf up while he lay limp and nearly unconscious on the strecher.

"Eeeeiiiiuuuuggghhhwwwhhhaaa . . .?" The words were slurred at first, as if Lee were intoxicated, but Gaara knew the other was just exhausted. He held up a hand, telling the men holding Lee up to wait while he tried to make sense of what was being said to him. "Gggaaauuuhhhgggg . . ." An odd sound, but the Kazekage guessed that it was supposed to be his name.

Slowly, he extended a hand to the older man and placed his palm to Lee's forehead, brushing back the black bangs first, of course. He made a slight face at the perspiration quite literally dripping from the other male, but didn't remove his hand. He leaned forward a bit, to where he was a few inches above Lee's face so that he could whisper to him. "Lee-san, it's all done. _He_ won't be bothering you anymore . . ." He knew that Lee could understand that since the other made a soft noise before more hot, wet tears spilled from his closed eyes. Gaara moved his hand very slowly and shooed away the salty tears with the tips of his fingers before he stood straight again, dropping his hand back down to his side. He nodded to the medical nin's that it was all right to take Lee now, and he watched as they left the room, Tsunade and Shizune scurrying after them to make sure that the Jounin would be all right.

Nodding his head to himself, Gaara ignored the calls of his name that Temari was making and just rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, feeling the wet tears still on his fingers before he wiped them away on his robes. "My part is done. You go make sure the Hokage gets a hotel to stay in before she has to leave. Give her my thanks." He ordered his sister sternly. "Also, make sure that Lee-san is treated accordingly. He's to be given anything he requests when he wakes up." And with that, he headed towards the stairs as well, walking up them a lot quicker than he had done while coming down them. Tsunade and the others were already in another part of the hospital, giving Lee a thourough check up to make sure the seal had formed properly, but Gaara moved straight to the exit, pushing past the doors and heading down the streets towards the Kazekage tower.

As he walked the empty streets of Suna, the people still in hiding until it was confirmed that everything was safe, Gaara found himself still rubbing his fingers together even though the tears were long gone from his hand.

**Songstone: You have no idea how hard I worked on this...XD Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it! Please review! **


	5. Departing Words

**One Day**

**A story by Songstone**

**Songstone: Woohoo! Chapter 5! XD I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 5: Departing words **

It was a week later when Gaara heard a soft knocking at the front door of his home. He looked up from the book he was reading and slowly placed a marker to keep his spot between the pages. Someone had come to the living quarters of the Kazekage tower? It must have been important. No one bothered him when he was in his room, which was rare in the first place. Temari and Kankuro were out as well on patrol around Suna, and they never knocked since they lived with him in the large mansion. Slowly, he brought his legs to the side of the bed and stood up, streching his arms a bit before he took quick steps out of his room and down the hallway. He passed the living room and went straight to the door, opening it swiftly. "Yes?" He asked tonelessly.

"Hey Gaara! Me n' Sakura-chan are taking Lee back home today. Thought you'd wanna say bye n' stuff." Naruto was standing in front of Gaara, smiling that idiotic grin of his while he rested his arms over his head.

His words caught Gaara's attention, though, and the Kazekage blinked slowly before nodding. "I see. Wait for me at the gates. I would like to see you and Lee-san off." And then he shut the door without warning, leaving Naruto with that command.

He went back up the stairs and found his room at the very back of the hallway. Once he had thrown on some better clothes other than the mesh shirt and black slacks he had been wearing before, he walked back downstairs and slipped into his shoes. He made his way out of the main living area and into the lobby of the Kazekage tower. It was handy to live in such a place. All Gaara had to do was leave the main quarters and go upstairs from the lobby to reach his office. That was where he spent most of his time anyway, since he didn't sleep much, even without the Shukaku in his body. It was habit by then and those were insanely hard to break.

As Gaara walked through the familiar streets of Suna, he got the typical greetings from the children and adults. The soft 'Good afternoon, Kazekage-sama' and the giggling of children could be heard as he made his way swiftly towards the enterance (in this case, exit) of Suna. He made a note to wave to the kids and bow his head slightly to the adults. He had decided against wearing his blue and white robes that day. He didn't feel like approaching Naruto, Lee and Sakura while he was in his most formal robes. And he had also said no to the hat. It went with the robes, so wearing it alone would have looked silly.

"Hey! Gaara!" The redhead's eyes scanned the scenery until he spotted a familiar orange blur in the distance. He was jumping around excitedly, waving for Gaara to hurry, obviously, so the redhead quickened his pace a bit.

The Kazekage could see, as he neared the Konoha ninjas, that Lee was standing, leaning against the sandstone walls of Suna. He was wearing different clothes rather than the green spandex he normally had on. Something more appropriate for the desert, just a white shirt and brown slacks that looked way too big for him. The pink haired female, Sakura, was standing in front of him, one hand holding a cantine to the dark haired man's lips and the other tipping his chin up as she poured water into his mouth. Watching that made Gaara's stomach churn. Was Lee _that_ affected by his ordeal that he couldn't even get himself a drink of water without assistance? Gaara hoped that he would recover quickly if that was the case.

"Gaara! You jerk." Naruto's voice made Gaara avert his eyes from the scene with Lee and Sakura and look back to the blond boy he was now standing in front of. "You slammed the door in my face!"

Gaara blinked slowly at that, wondering what his friend meant by that, when he suddenly recalled that he had shut the door on the blond when he had ordered him to wait at the gates. He nodded to that and crossed his arms over his chest, looking up at Naruto. "I did." He said simply, not really feeling talkative that morning. He wasn't pleased that Lee was going to be leaving.

Throughout the week that Lee had stayed in the hospital, Naruto and Sakura would go and visit him and Gaara had sent Temari to go and check on his progress as well. She told him that Lee looked better, meaning that he wasn't screaming and trying to wound himself anymore, but that he wasn't getting enough rest. Everynight, the nurses had needed to sedate him to get him to go to sleep. He never fought them or tried to make them stop, instead only sitting in bed, looking out of the window to the side of the room. He would say a few things here and there to Naruto and Sakura, asking for water and such, and he could get out of the bed by himself to use the restroom, so he was obviously improving. And yet . . . Gaara didn't want to release him back to Konoha yet. He was still concerned about him since the Shukaku could still try and get back at him. Maybe in a dream and such. He didn't want Lee to go through anymore torment because of that cursed thing.

"You're really rude, you know that?" Naruto asked, placing his hands on his hips. Before Gaara could answer, however, Sakura turned around, recapping the cantine and placing it on her hip.

"Naruto, are you ready to leave?" She called out, motioning back at Lee gently for him to step forward with her.

The ebony haired man blinked a bit, looking at Sakura blankly, but when she called his name, he focused on her form and nodded his head, shuffling forward a bit. He dragged his feet across the dirt and stopped when Sakura did, just in front of Gaara. He was looking down at his shoes with interest, but as Gaara approached him and he had heard the sound of someone else's feet on the ground, Lee raised his head and locked eyes with the Kazekage.

The younger man just stared up at the other male for a long while, looking from his eyes all around his face and then back. The old cuts over his eyes and down to his chin were healing nicely, leaving only small pink lines that would surely fade over a few days' time. "Have a safe trip today, Lee-san. I hope that you're in better health next time we meet." He nodded his head a bit to his own words, not really expecting anything in return, and then looked to Naruto to tell him the same thing.

"Thank you . . ." The deeper, huskier voice caught Gaara off guard and it took him a moment to find its source. He looked back up at Lee, his eyes questioning. The older man cleared his throat, bringing a hand up to pat his own chest so that he could speak clearer. "I will be sure to return soon for a visit." Lee nodded his own head as well, though the movement was slow, and his lips slowly pulled back across his face to form a very small, faint smile.

Naruto and Sakura seemed just as surprised as Gaara was that Lee had spoken, though the redhead hid his shock better than they did, prefering to leave his mouth closed rather than hanging open. He turned his body all the way back to where he was standing in front of Lee and he could get a better view of his face and eyes. "Don't push yourself just as you start to get better. Stay in Konoha for a while and rest." He warned in his usual tone of voice, blinking up at the ebony haired man.

Lee only gave a short nod and held out his hand for the Kazekage to shake. But just as Gaara had gotten a good grip on the other's hand, Lee gave a quick yank of his arm, pulling Gaara forward, and then wrapped his arms around the shorter man's shoulders. "Thank you again . . . very much for taking care of me." Lee whispered in the redhead's ear softly.

Of course, Gaara had tensed up when he had been pulled forward. It took all that he had to hold back the sand that usually came to his aide in these sort of situations, and just remain still. Lee's hold wasn't too tight, which Gaara was grateful for. He had seen the older man and his Sensei embrace before. The sight not only looked painful, but almost inhuman. He had never before seen anyone's back be in that sort of pose for so long without breaking. He hoped that when Lee returned to Konoha, he wasn't greeted in that manner. He was definitely in no condition for those sort of hugs just yet.

Slowly, awkwardly, Gaara moved his arms up and let them wrap loosely around Lee's waist, patting his friend's back softly, careful not to touch the seal in the small of his back in any way because he knew it must have been throbbing. It was a gesture to show that he was returning the hug, and also a silent signal that Gaara was ready to be released. But he had heard the other's words and it made him furrow his brow in thought for a moment. Why was he being thanked? He hadn't been the one to take care of Lee when he was in the hospital . . . Oh Lord. Gaara closed his eyes and stopped the patting that he had been doing to Lee's back, grabbing onto his own hands around Lee's waist as he held onto him a bit tighter.

Lee was thanking him? He said that Gaara had took care of him, when in fact all the Kazekage did was lend the Hokage his chakra for the seal and order his siblings to go and check in on Lee once and a while. He hadn't gone to see him in the hospital at all after the sealing. He suddenly felt a very odd feeling in his chest. He had experienced this before. This feeling was called Guilt. When he had found Lee in the desert, he had gotten that same awful feeling in his chest, though this time it seemed so much worse. Lee was too kind. Why was he that way? Why? It made Gaara a bit upset, but he didn't show it as he just stayed holding onto the taller man. He knew that the Konoha shinobi saw him as one of his friends, and Gaara saw him as one as well. Lee and Naruto were possibly the only two people outside of his family that he could speak to fairly openly.

Really, Gaara and Naruto understood each other a bit more because of the fact that both held tanuki in their bodies. But after Shukaku was removed, Gaara was freed and could move on to live a more normal life. Or about as normal as Gaara of the Desert could get. But now, he couldn't help himself but feeling guilty and sick over the fact that he had been freed and that Lee was now a prisoner to that awful sand demon that had plauged the Kazekage for almost all of his life. He held a bond with Lee now, as well. They both knew what it was like to live with the One Tail, though Lee was a bit more liberated becuase of the seal he had gotten. But nonetheless, Gaara knew that he had something with Lee now. He could feel a bit of possesiveness coming over himself at the thought of letting go of the other male an watching him leave through Suna's gates. This man held the Shukaku now. He had taken over for Gaara, in a way, so that the redhead could live his life now without fear of dozing off and waking up to a destroyed village. And yet . . .

Why was Lee _thanking_ Gaara? He hadn't done a thing to help Lee at all while he was in the hospital suffering or recovering. He had sat at his desk, calmly signing papers and going over missions, and not once had his mind returned to Lee. Once the seal was on and Gaara was informed that it had been a sucess, he had let the thoughts and worries about Lee slip away completely from his mind so that he could get back to work. And that had been it. No other concerns for the Leaf nin's health since he knew the doctors could take care of that. No fretting over his mental state of mind because he knew that Lee would recover quickly now that the Shukaku wasn't able to speak to him. That was it. He hadn't been worried at all.

"It wasn't I who was there for you." Gaara finally got his mouth working again as he rested his chin on Lee's shoulder, the other a bit slouched to reach the redhead's height. "But you're welcome back here in Suna." He said, since opening his village gates was really the only thing he had done to show he cared whether Lee lived or died.

There was a pause, during which Lee was still holding onto Gaara and vice versa, but then Naruto cleared his throat. "Ahem . . . _guys_?" He asked, tapping Lee's shoulder and looking at Gaara's face. The redhead had closed his eyes in thought and was just standing still.

It was a bit odd to be watching this whole scene unfold. It wasn't wierd for Lee to hug people spontaneously. In fact, it was a sign that he was getting better! But . . . why was Gaara allowing himself to be hugged and why was he returning the embrace? Those were the questions that were bothering Naruto, and maybe Sakura as well, since she was still watching both boys with her mouth ajar.

Lee didn't seem to hear Naruto's words, but Gaara certainly did. He pulled his arms back a bit, but only to have to move them back. He placed his hands on Lee's chest, giving a gentle push to make the other release him. "Lee-san, you should get going if you're to get a good distance by tonight." He said, blinking up at the older male when he had pulled himself back as well.

"Yes, Kazekage-sama." He said, offering another small smile down to his superior. He stepped back with a quick salute and had to lean on Naruto for a moment since he had lost his balance and nearly tumbled to the ground.

Gaara watched as Lee stood upright, turned around and walked away awkwardly after a few more simple goodbye's had been said. He hoped now, more than ever in the past ten minutes, that Lee would make it home safe and that he would be treated properly once there. He was sure that the famale, Sakura, and not to mention the Hokage, would see to that, so he didn't dwell on those thoughts for long. But as he had turned around and was heading back towards the Kazekage tower, he realized that he was doing the same thing he had been doing ever since Lee had arrived in Suna. He was assuming that other people would take care of the Leaf nin so that he could get back to his own work without a guilty conscience. He made a face and growled a bit at having caught himself doing such a thing. He nodded to himself as he continued to walk, picking up his pace a bit towards the looming building where he both worked and lived.

_I will write a letter to Lee-san once I'm sure he's in Konoha. I'll ask how he is. That will help ease my mind from these ridiculous worries._

And with that, the Kazekage continued to head towards his office, not bothering to look back over his shoulder at his departing friends.

**Songstone: Gaara just realized what a meanie he was being. XD Well, I hope that you guys enjoyed this and that I can post the next part soon. I'm kinda on a roll. XD R&R please!**


	6. Side Story or Chapter 6 Back Home

**One Day**

**A story by Songstone**

**Songstone: Well, just because I'm an evil, sick, twisted person I'm going to give you a side story instead of going back to Gaara. XD Actually, this part is needed for the story so I hope you don't mind. Besides, I like writing in Lee's POV. Much more intersting. Expecially now since he has the Shukaku and all. XD**

**NOTE: Thank you, Akatsuki Feathers, for pointing out a mistake I made in the last chapter! I had discribed both Shukaku and Kyuubi as "Tanuki" but I got that horribly and completely wrong. Yes, as soon as I read your review, I began a series of face-palms and aggrivated noises all directed at myself. XD I have to apologize to everyone who reads this fan fic! You see, I like to think of myself as being an "inteligent" young gal, but sometimes, I have can have moments where I am just**_** not**_** the sharpest sword in the armory. XD So . . . yeah . . . If you see any mistakes that I make, please point them out so I can watch myself more often! And if my Lee can be a bit of an airhead at times (as in, not the adorable, sweet and charming airhead that he is by nature), then that would totally be my fault and I apologize for it! Ahem . . . Now then . . . How about you enjoy this chapter, huh?! XD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**Side Story (or, chapter 6): Back Home**

"Hey, fuzzybrows!"

Lee looked up from the book he had been reading to watch Naruto enter his bedroom without knocking. The blond man hadn't been too pleased when he was told that he had to babysit (as he so bluntly chose to say it) the older taijutsu master, but he had quickly gotten over that disappointment when Lee told him that he could buy all the ramen he wanted and that it would be his treat.

Sakura usually walked to Lee's house out in the forest after spending the day training with the Hokage. She sometimes brought Lee what she called 'real' food so that he wouldn't be stuck eating ramen twenty-four hours a day. It was a very nice gesture, and Lee was more than grateful, but in all honesty, he wasn't hungry.

Lee hadn't been 'hungry' for the entire time that he had been in Konoha. His appetite was gone along with his seemingly endless amout on energy. He just didn't feel the same on the outside. He knew that he was still the same old Lee on the inside, but on the outside . . . Naruto had once told him that his eyes were starting to look really creepy and that he needed to sleep more. Upon further inspection, Lee saw what his friend had meant; His round, black eyes were droopy and the iris's were a dull black in color instead on the dark pitch black that they always were. The nightmares that plagued his dreams often kept him awake the whole night, so Lee had given up on trying to get a decent night's rest. Thus, he had begun to acquire dark circles beneath his eyes. Naruto said once; "Any more of this, and you'll end up looking like Gaara." It hadn't been a joke, so Lee didn't laugh.

He already knew, for the most part, what had happened to him. What was sealed within his body now. It was very strange to think about. He would often stand in front of his mirror in the bathroom and just stare at his own reflection, trying to catch a glimpse of something that might show that the demon really was inside of him. Of course, that was something silly since Lee already knew that the Shukaku really _was_ inside of him. He heard the tanuki at night when he was trying to go to sleep; The awful tauntings and curses that the thing threw his way. It all made him sick to his stomach and he was always woken up the same way. With Naruto shaking him by the shoulders, shouting for him to stop scratching himself, and his own high pitched wails ringing in his ears.

"Are you coming to eat or not?" Naruto was asking, tapping his fingers against the wooden doorframe around Lee's room. He didn't look too happy with having to come and get the ebony haired man for a meal, but tried to hide that.

Lee stared at Naruto for a moment, considering what he had just said and processing it slowly in his mind. "Oh. Yes. I'm sorry. Uhm . . . I'll be there in a moment." Lee nodded his head slowly and even managed a very small, faint smile up at his friend. That seemed to satisfy the other and he left the older man alone again, though he didn't shut the door to the bedroom. No one trusted Lee _that_ much. At least not yet.

Standing up from his bed and placing a mark in the book he had been reading, Lee crossed his room and took another seat in front of his desk. He really didn't have an appetite, so he was going to hide out for a while before Naruto would return and drag him towards the kitchen to eat. Lee had a routine going and it had worked rather well. When he didn't want to eat (which was nearly everyday) he would sit at the table with the blond man and take only a few sips of the broth in the bowl of ramen and slurp a small amount of noodles.

But when Naruto would excuse himself from the table to go and do something more interesting in the living room, Lee would take his chance to strike then. Naruto always finished eating way before he did, so it wasn't hard for Lee to complete this part of his routine. He would take the bowl of ramen and hurry to the back of his house and enter the bathroom, where he would promptly pour the broth of the ramen into the sink. Once he had rinsed it all out and there was no more evidence there, he would very unceremoniously toss the noodles into the toilet and flush twice, assuring that everything had gone down. Then he would simply rush back to the kitchen and pretend to be washing his bowl out when Naruto re-entered the room to check on him. And thus, that had been his routine ever since he had been brought back home.

Lee couldn't really say why, but whenever he tried to eat like he used to, an overwhelming feeling of nausea would have him gagging and dry heaving on whatever he had swallowed. Even on the rare ocassions when his stomach was rumbling in hunger, that fear of not being able to eat without vomitting afterwards kept Lee from consuming more than a few bites of food a day. He did keep his fluids up, though, replenishing himself when he would purge after a failed attempt to try and regain his old appetite. It was all so stressful and annoying that Lee had just given up on himself, deciding that he could live off of a few bites of food here and there and plenty of water.

Presently, Lee sat at his desk, chewing on a pen as he stared down at the blank page in front of him. He reached down into a drawer and pulled out the letter that he was currently replying to. He and Gaara had been writing each other for a while now. Every week, Lee would get a new letter and would eagerly reply with one of his own. This had been going on for about three weeks and it was a sense of new normalicy that Lee eagerly embraced. He felt as if Gaara were the only person to actually understand what he was experiencing and also the only one who could help. As he reread the Kazekage's handwritten letter, Lee became inspired and slowly began to pen his responce.

Gaara had asked him once if he remembered anything about his attack or whatever had occurred for him to somehow end up with a tanuki sealed within his body. Lee was still trying to figure that out, himself. He would try and try to remember anything at all about what had happened, but his mind was blank. He could recall meeting with Gaara one day and dismissing himself to travel back to Konoha, then he seemed to have met with some trouble because he had suddenly blacked out and the next thing he knew, he was in darkness. Lee couldn't remember anything else; No sense of touch, smell, sight or taste. He only had his ears to rely on. And it was there, in that black abyss, that Lee heard _him_ for the first time. It had been a soft buzzing in the background at first, but then it grew and the Shukaku was screeching in Lee's ears so loudly, he was sure that his eardrums would burst though his body was numb to any sort of pain.

Then his memories shifted again and he remembered waking up in the Suna hospital and looking up at Gaara standing beside him. The redhead had briefed him on how they had discovered him out in the desert, but then all Lee was aware of were the awful taunts and threats that the One Tail was shouting at him. Then . . . Well, the rest of the events came into play; He had been sedated and he couldn't fight back anymore. His body was kept nearly still and he could do nothing at all to try and stop the tanuki's words. He was stuck to lying in a hospital bed, listening to lies and words that he knew weren't true. It was unnerving, and Lee was told (after he had mentioned to Gaara just _who_ was inside of his head) that he wasn't allowed to fall asleep. So he was given some sort of medicine to increase his adrenaline and keep him awake.

It was like tourtue. Lee had to endure the demon's curses and taunts twenty-four hours a day and for quite a while. At least until the seal had been placed upon his back. Lee didn't recall any of the events that occured during the sealing process, and he was sort of grateful that he didn't. He had learned from Gaara and Tsunade that it had not been a pleasant experience for him and that he had screamed and cried and tried to fight for control against the Hokage. He had failied, obviously, and the seal had been put in place after a long, hard day of planning and work for all of the Shinobi and ANBU who had been present. Then, not too long after that and Lee had gotten some rest and had recovered from his ordeal, they were off. Lee of course remembered leaving Suna, saying goodbye to Gaara and dispursing with Naruto and Sakura.

But that was all he knew about what had happened. Everything else, all of the important information, was missing and Lee had no way of recovering it. He had considered the idea that the Shukaku was hiding those memories from him, but decided that if that was the case, that he would have gotten them back once the tanuki was sealed. Yet he still remembered nothing! It was both annoying and confusing at the same time, and Lee had given up on ever figuring out what had really happened to him. He had told Gaara to just give up searching for answers, since he knew that the Kazekage had sent his brother out to search for anyone who might know what happened. It was a pointless search, Lee felt.

Just as Lee was finishing up the fourth page of his letter and was signing his name, he heard Naruto calling him from the kitchen. "Heeeeey! Fuzzybrows! You comin' to eat or do I have to go over there and drag you out by your ears?" The blond certainly didn't sound pleased, so Lee dropped his pen and quickly rose from his seat. He would ask Sakura to drop that letter off at the post office tomorrow.

"I'm coming!" He called out. And then he walked calmly out of his bedroom to start his nightly routine.

- - -

Lee would awaken that night with a terrible ache in his back. Really, he didn't even remember falling asleep. One minute he had been reading his book, the next he was opening his eyes against a stabbing feeling in his lower back. He sat up in his bed and reached behind himself to rub the spot of discomfort. Lee was surprised when his fingers grazed over a part of his skin that would always remain just a few degrees warmer than the rest of his body. The Seal. The Seal was what was hurting him.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Lee tried to think back. He hadn't had any dreams, none that he could recall, anyway, so that couldn't have been what had woken him . . . He suddenly let out a startled cry of pain when another strange ache made him arch his back. What an odd pain. He had never experienced this before, and it wasn't very pleasant--

_"Oooh, I'm sorry. Did that hurt?"_

Lee's eyes went wide at the sudden voice. He sat up straight and looked around the room, though he could see nothing since his house was pitch dark. He could make out a faint flash of light coming from his living room, which showed that Naruto was still awake and probably fixing a midnight snack, but he couldn't sense anyone else in his bedroom. He looked around again, just to double check.

_"You seem so jumpy, Lee. What's the matter?"_

The voice sounded again, and Lee jumped, startled. It had sounded so close. The voice right in his ears . . . His round, black eyes suddenly went larger and he gasped, placing a hand over his stomach. "Oh no . . ." He breathed quietly.

_"Oh, yes. Yes. Don't you remember me, Lee? I've been locked away for quite a while, but I'm still very much here."_

Shukaku's sing-song voice was surrounding Lee and the Leaf nin clamped both hands over his ears, trying to shut the Tanuki out. "Go away." He ordered through clenched teeth, squeezing his eyes shut as another burst of pain, worse than before, struck him in the back. This wasn't right! Lee never heard the One Tail anymore. His voice had been locked away ever since the seal had been put into place and the only time Lee would think that he heard him was in his dreams. Never when he was wide awake like he was now! What was going on?

_"Why, how rude. I never would have thought that you, of all people, would tell someone to 'go away.'"_ The One Tail cackled and Lee whimpered, pulling his legs up to his chest. _"I might be sealed, but I can still read your thoughts. I've been watching you. Planning. I've finally found what I need. There is a weak spot in this cursed seal. And here it is!"_

There was a flare of red hot pain over the seal again and Lee groaned, moving forward to press his forehead against the sheets of his bed. "W-weak spot?" He gasped, feeling how his energy was being drained. All those sleepless night and a lack of proper meals were finally catching up to him, it seemed, and Shukaku was using that to his advantage.

_"Oh my, yes. Every seal has them. It just depends on how complicated it is and how smart one has to be to figure out where it's located." _Another pain and Shukaku began to laugh, a high pitch sound that made Lee's temples throb. _"A little more should do it."_

Lee let out a small cry when the throbs of pain became more frequent, rougher too. Like a hot knife stabbing him from the inside out. "Stop it . . ." He groaned, knowing that it was the demon who was causing his distress. But, as soon as he had spoken, Lee figured out what the tanuki was trying to do. He was trying to get free. He wanted to break past the seal and burst forth from his new, and unwilling, host. That act would kill Lee almost immediately and then the Shukaku would be in charge. Only God knows what kind of destruction the One Tail would cause if he were ever set free. "You can't get out. I won't let you." Lee promised, turning his concentration inwards as he pushed along with the now burning hot seal. He would keep Shukaku back. He had to.

There was another fit of laughter from the One Tail and Lee was struck with a new pain, right in his stomach. _"You really think that your will power will be enough to hold me back? Pfft. Please. You're far too weak. The only reason that I haven't surfaced and tried to break free is because I was recooperating." _There was some sort of grunt from the demon and again, Lee was hit with that odd, burning pain. He groaned out loud and writhed from side to side as he held his aching body together. _"Now that I'm nearly back at my full power, I think it'll be more than enough to bypass this seal and get out of you once and for all."_

"Uhhhgggnnn . . ." Lee moved back into a sitting position and squirmed a bit until he was seated at the edge of his bed. Once there, he swung his legs over the edge and put his feet to the cold floor, struggling to put any form of power into his legs so that he could heave himself upwards. It seemed that just as he was suceeding and was standing straight up, another sharp stabbing feeling made him crumple into himself and lose his balance. He let out a strangled cry and hit the ground hard, the impact knocking the wind from his lungs. "N . . . Na . . . ru . . . to . . ." He coughed that out and then started to whine as the throbbing in his back turned into a nonstop burning sensation.

_"Look, you. Either you let me out or I force my way out. No matter what happens, you're going to die right here and now."_ There was more of that horrid, evil laughter and then Lee caved in. He still had his arms wrapped around his waist and was continuing to try and hold back the tanuki, but he had let out one long, loud wail that was sure to bring Naruto crashing into his bedroom. Once the blond was there, then Lee could tell him to get the Hokage. She would know what to do.

But all at once, Lee felt the skin on his back, just over the seal, break and pull apart in a rough, excruciatingly painful way. He knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that the sensation had just been some sort of illusion and that his skin was still very much in one piece, but it just felt so real and raw that he couldn't stop himself from screaming again.

"Fuzzybrows!" Naruto's voice was somewhere above him and he heard heavy footsteps approaching him. Straining, Lee lifted his head and caught sight of the blond man kneeling in front of him. Naruto reached out and grabbed his shoulders, pulling him up into a sitting position. Lee knew that his friend didn't know how much pain he was in, he knew that Naruto couldn't possibly assume that his nerves were on fire at the moment, so he didn't blame it on the blond when he was grabbed and a flood of agony washed over him.

Letting loose another high pitched scream, Lee's vision went completely white and then he was aware of a pushing and shoving feeling that was making him lose consciousness. He heard the Shukaku laughing and screeching in his ears and tried desperately to get up and hold the One Tail back, but knew he hadn't the energy. Subtley, the demon had been weakening Lee. He had been making it difficult for the taijutsu master to eat and sleep so that he would be worn down. Now that he had him in this situation, the Shukaku could break free. The seal was weakening and he could slip past its barriers quite easily if Lee were to fall away into sleep. He tried to hold on, he really did, but all of the pain he was being put through, the taunting and the burning feeling all throughout his body was becoming too much for Lee to handle. He eventually slipped back into the safe recesses of unconsciousness where he could rest and regain his energy.

- - -

"Fuzzybrows! Hey, Fuzzybrows! Lee, wake up!" Naruto continued to shake his friend's limp body, hoping to get some sort of reaction from the older man. He had simply stopped moving and had basically collapsed back onto the floor where Naruto had found him. What could have sparked this? Had he had another nightmare? This had never happened before! "Lee! C'mon, Fuzzybrows. Hey . . . Wake up!" The blond shook his friend again, rougher this time, and tapped the side of his scratched up face. Finally, after a few hectic moments of trying to get a reaction out of the other man, Naruto got one in the form of Lee's large, heavily bandaged hand gripping his arm roughly. The motion startled the blond man but then he grabbed a hold of Lee's shoulders and held him up at arms length. "Hey, Fuzzybrows! You awake now?" He called, giving the ebony haired man a firm shake.

The action made Lee's head bob backwards, exposing his neck for a brief moment, and then all at once, in one quick motion, his chin snapped down and his previously closed eyes were wide open, alert and very wild. Naruto would notice immediately that there was something horribly wrong. Lee's eyes, which were normally a deep black in color, were golden and the whites of his eyes had gone the color of ebony, like his hair. Inside of the now golden colored iris' there were four dots of blue that swirled a bit before they settled down in one position.

Whilst he was frozen in a bit of a stupor, Naruto heard a faint rustling sound growing and increasing in volume until something hard and grainy was slithering up his arms towards Lee's face. Instantly, he jumped back, realeasing his hold on Lee's arms in the process, and pulling free from the hold that the older man had once had on his arm. He pushed his back against the wall of Lee's bedroom and tried to calm his rapidly thumping heart. What had that been? He strained his blue eyes as he watched Lee slowly sit straight up, his eerie gold and black eyes staring, unblinking, straight ahead of himself. But once Naruto made out the shape of what appeared to be two large, blue and tanned ears of an animal forming on either side of Lee's head, he realized what had been crawling towards his friend. Sand. It was everywhere, slithering up beneath Lee's clothes and forming parts of the tanuki that now resided in him. The ears were one, but then Lee's hands changed into claws, the nails long and sharp, and from behind him, a tail came into sight as it swayed gently from side to side. "Lee . . ." Naruto gasped out his friend's name even though he could no longer hear him.

Nevertheless, the piercing, wide eyes located the blond man against the wall and then Lee's body was moving slowly, inching forward just a bit. He smiled wide, but instead of his teeth being straight and perfect, they had elongated into fangs and were dripping with hot, sticky saliva. "Oh, it's you." And when he spoke, Naruto knew for sure that it wasn't Lee who was watching him. The voice was deep and slow, practically dripping with menace and glee. "I'm sorry to say that your friend isn't here at the moment. But, if you're willing, I'll gladly take a message for him." And then the Shukaku laughed, tossing his (Lee's) head back and howling with enjoyment. He was finally free again! And there wasn't anything that could stop him this time around.

**Songstone: SUPER LONG SIDE STORY OVER! XD Well, this was very . . . er . . . interesting to write. It was fun too! I hope that everyone enjoyed this and that I'm not torturing you all too badly with the suspence of what happens next. XD It will be interesting though, let me tell you. And yay! The plot and such! XD Well, in short, I hope you enjoyed my story and I would like to thank everyone who's stuck around and reviewed! You guys' reviews really make my day and often save my sanity when I'm stuck in the next chapter and such. It all helps feed the plot bunnies, and God knows that they need the food! XD So, thanks again! R&R!**


	7. Letters from Konoha

**One Day**

**A story by Songstone**

**Songstone: Okay . . . I kinda set the bar pretty high for myself. XD I bet you guys are expecting some awesome, mega, super chapter or something after the last one, right? Well, I'm not that good with keeping up stuff like that. I guess it was a one-time thing. XD Oh well. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter. By the way, it starts off before the last chapter happened. Just so you all know.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**Chapter 7: Letters from Konoha**

Gaara shifted through the letters on his desk and sighed, tossing out nearly half of them since they were from the young women in Suna. He had grown used to getting letters from the ladies, though he rarely payed them any attention. They all seemed to say the same thing; About how much they admired and respected their Kazekage and how handsome he was. That sort of thing. It was all quite ridiculous, really.

A heavy sigh passed Gaara's thin lips and he tossed three more letters away. He stopped at the very bottom, however, when he looked down and saw a rather massive letter. It had two stamps on the side, showing that the sender must have had to pay extra just because of the weight alone. Lifting it up, Gaara's eyes scanned over the address. _To the Kazekage of Suna, from_ . . . A pause and then Gaara turned the letter over, ripping open the back of the envelope.

_To the Kazekage of Suna from Rock Lee of Konoha._

Lee? Lee was writing to him? It had been three weeks since Gaara had written to him . . . The Kazekage thought that the older man had been upset at him or just in very bad shape. Thinking about such possibilities made the redhead worry, so he had been trying to occupy himself with other things over the weeks that had passed since Lee had left Suna. But getting a letter from his friend made him relax a bit. At least he was in good enough shape to be allowed a pen to write with without the fear that he would stab himself with it. That only made Gaara shudder, so he tried to stop thinking and only concentrate on the letter.

Gaara tossed away the torn and useless envelope into the garbage can and proceeded to open up the . . . six page letter? Good Lord, what was the man writing about? But maybe this was a good thing. If Lee was his usual talkative self, then he wasn't being as badly affected by the tanuki in his body than Gaara had thought he would be. At least, that was what he hoped was the case.

He settled back into his chair and leaned back a bit, catching a bright ray of light from the window behind himself onto the paper. Almost anxious to find out how the other man had been fairing, Gaara began to read at the letter from the top, where his name was written where Lee had signed it.

_Dear Gaara,_

_I'm terribly sorry that it's taken so long for me to write you back. I just now got the time to settle down and put pen to paper and form words. It's not that I've forgotten about you! Heaven's no. But Hokage-sama was insistent that I stay in the hospital for a few days. She said that she wanted to check me again and make sure that I was handling the seal all right. The good news is that it's holding up and the Shukaku hasn't tried to escape. There is a bit of . . . well, not 'bad' news, but I think you'll understand._

_Naruto-kun is staying with me in my home. It's temporary, though. He's here only to keep an eye on me and make sure that I'm all right. It gets a bit unnerving though, to have him watching me as I rest, but I've managed. Sakura-san comes by as well to give me a check up, so it isn't like I'm all alone here. So, I'll put your mind at ease with that._

Somehow, as Gaara read, he could almost picture Lee giving him a thumbs up and his award winning smile that always seemed to catch the light from the sun. He sure seemed well in this letter, his words and phrases overly positive, a sign that he was still the same old Lee and not being corrupted by the tanuki that was now inside of him. For that, at least, Gaara was glad about. However, when Lee had mentioned that Naruto was staying in his house, Gaara couldn't help but feel sympathy towards the taijutsu user. The blond ninja might have been Gaara's first friend, but he got on his nerves with his noise and constant blabbering.

The Kazekage blinked for a moment as he was thinking over Naruto's annoying qualities. He suddenly had a revalation; Lee was almost exactly like Naruto. They both loved to talk, were both so jumpy and active that it was nearly sickening to watch and it was almost exhausting to be around them and watch them move. They shared nearly the same determination, though Gaara easily spotted flaws in the theory that they were alike; Lee was hyper like Naruto, yes, but he was able to calm himself down at certain times while the blond was almost constantly chipper and loud.

Another big difference in Gaara's mind, Naruto had his friends who usually cheered him on, Lee being one of those people, but Lee himself had barely anyone. It was true that he had his teacher who treated him more like a son than a student, but Gaara doubted that his teammates were cheering for him all that much. Naruto was probably on his side in a battle, that had been the case when Gaara had fought against the ebony haired man . . . The Kazekage prefered not to think back too far, however, and cleared his throat, continuing to read.

The letter was long, but Gaara was glad that it didn't take as long to read as he thought it might. Lee had a way with his letters . . . they weren't quick, but they read easily. A person could quickly leaf through all of the words and comprehend it all. Not only that, but the way he phrased certain things and how he came across in the pages Gaara now held was almost comical, which made for an interesting and entertaining read. The redhead risked allowing his mouth to twitch upwards slightly in a near half smirk, though it wasn't quite there yet.

Gaara was proud that Lee seemed to be doing so well. Honestly, he hadn't been sure if the older man would have been able to survive at all with a tanuki sealed in hs body. It wasn't something one could get accustomed to overnight, and the Shukaku was a very taunting demon. He knew how to mess with a person's mind. Gaara really hoped that the seal Lee had gotten done would keep the One Tail at bay while Lee rested. If not, then the demon could easily have access to the other male's dreams and use Lee's memories against him. The very thought made Gaara's hair stand up on his neck and he shook his head. Lee was strong. He could adjust. Gaara had to believe that no matter what.

- - -

"Temari." Gaara spoke his sister's name once she was seated across from him at the table and had said her prayers.

The blonde woman and her younger brother were having a meal, something that all three of the Suna siblings enjoyed doing together. That was the time when they got to talk about their day, or complain about certain things, but most importantly, they could all just sit around the table and be a family. It was something that they all had missed out on for twelve years, but now that Gaara had started seeing his older siblings as his family and not just two more people to destroy, they had begun sharing some fond memories with each other.

Kankuro and Gaara would talk together while the puppeteer downed a beer or two (Gaara didn't drink, and for a good reason!), and there was even the one time that Gaara allowed Temari to cut his hair, which had begun to grow too long in the back of his neck and over his eyes. Yes, the three siblings were catching up on lost time and enjoying it as much as they could with their busy scheduals. This day would have been nice for some family time since Temari had just returned from leading a cell of Genin on a mission and Gaara had finsihed up most of the work in his office, but there was once thing standing in their way of a 'family moment'.

Kankuro wasn't there.

The puppeteer was out on a mission that Gaara had assigned him and wasn't expected back until a week later. He was leading a squad of Jounin and Chunin out to scout the desert for any signs of what might have happened to Lee. Gaara ordered his brother to go a bit out of Suna and maybe ask around in some neighboring villages. Kankuro had been out for nearly a week and a half, and Gaara was getting anxious.

"What's on your mind?" Temari's voice called Gaara from his thoughts and he blinked up at her before he started to eat his food at his usual slow pace.

"I was only wondering if I had gotten any other letters. Specifically from Konoha." Gaara was never one to beat around the bush when it came to something important to him and he felt that Lee's letters were something to be considered 'important.' He looked up at Temari while he took a drink of the water in his glass, careful not to spill even a drop. Water was very precious in Suna and he didn't want to waste any of it.

"Konoha?" Temari echoed Gaara's words and thought them over while she ate. Finally, she shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "Not that I've seen. All the letters you got today were on your desk. Why?" Of course Temari would ask that. She was a female and as such, she was curious as to why her younger brother seemed so anxious to get mail from Suna's allied country. Usually, Gaara hated having to sort out mail. He would complain that it was taking up all of his spare time and that most of his letters were from the girls in Suna anyway.

"I wanted to know if Lee-san had written me back yet. It's been over a week and he has yet to respond to my letter." Gaara's brow furrowed a bit as he spoke, reminding himself that he was a bit worried about Lee and his well being. Had something happened? Maybe he had a replapse and the Shukaku was trying to break the seal? The possibilities were endless and they were all swirling around Gaara's head, making him dizzy.

Now, Temari knew that her brother had been writing to Lee nearly every week, but it was still new and wierd for him to actually be writing to someone and seemingly enjoying it. It seemed that whenever he found one of Lee's usual novels (Temari called the large-browed boy's letters novels because of their size.) on his desk that Gaara would get just a little bit more relaxed and even a bit talkative. It was odd. The blonde female had also noticed that Gaara's own letters had gotten longer. At first he wrote one page, front to back, and then as the weeks went by and formed into a month, his envelopes to Konoha held up to three or four pages of words. Temari often wondered what the two boys talked about but didn't bother asking the redhead since it wasn't her bussiness in the first place.

"Sorry to say, no. I haven't seen any other letters besides the ones I put on your desk." Temari informed her youngest brother, taking another bite of the sandwich she had fixed herself. She sipped at the warm tea in her cup after she had replaced the food on her plate and looked up at Gaara, watching him as he ate slowly. "Any news from Kankuro? Have they found any leads yet?" She asked, trying to change the subject though it didn't work well since this new topic dealt with Lee, on some level.

The redhead only shook his head before he looked up as well, lacing his fingers together before he placed his chin over both of his hands. "None. They can't find any places that might have been sheltering an enemy or anything that might be a clue as to what happened. But then again, we're in the desert and she's rarely kind to anyone. She's hiding the evidence, I'm sure. And if Lee doesn't remember . . ." He sighed and closed his black ringed eyes, seemingly exhausted just by thinking over the situation. "I've asked Lee-san if he can remember anything. At all. He says that he only remembers running towards Konoha, hearing voices and then waking up in Suna again." A shake of the head sent strands of red falling over Gaara's forehead, consealing part of the scar over his eye as well. "He's missing a rather large piece of his life and now he's stuck with that _thing_ in him. He doesn't even know why." It all seemed so unfair and wrong. This shouldn't have happened to Lee.

"I know. But he's a strong guy. He's made it this far. He'll pull through. He won't go down so easily." Temari spoke as if she had know the Leaf her entire life and nodded her head to strengthen her statements. Lee had persevered even when Gaara had been the one to shatter his arm and leg. The damage was horrible, she knew that much, and he had nearly had to quit his career as a Shinobi. And yet, the next time that the Sand Shinobi and Lee had crossed paths, he was recovering from a surgery that would have killed most others and was on the battlefield. Drunk, if she remembered the description correctly. He had become a Jounin and had worked so hard to get where he was now. He wasn't going to just throw that all away. Temari wanted to say all of that aloud, but know a certain part about her summary of Lee's life would only upset the redhead.

And Gaara did feel bad for what he had done to Lee, but he felt as though his debts were payed. Lee had told him when they met again on the battlefield that he held no grudges against Gaara and the Kazekage repaied him by saving his life. It was almost a form of apology for what he had done and he hoped that Lee knew that. Gaara had never been good at saying that he was sorry. Even now, after he had changed for the better, those kinds of things came very rarely. So in answer to Temari's words, he gave a gruff nod and a grunt of agreement.

Yes. Lee was strong. Yes. He would make it. That's all there was too it.

Gaara only hoped that he would get a letter soon, else he start growing gray hairs from all of the senseless worrying he was doing . . .

**Songstone: I just had the mental image of Gaara with gray hair. O.O Kinda creepy when you think about it for too long. XD Anyway, I hope that you guys will keep reading! I think I'm actually on a roll here. XD R&R please!**


End file.
